I agree. Dont get me wrong, Qcom has many essential, fundamental, non-blocking radio patents that put them in a great position - and they are clearly getting compensated for that, and fully deserve to be. no arguement. But there are many other essential patents out there that Qcom does not own, particularly in the higher layers of the stack. I still do not think there is an easy answer (taking account of all the replies) to seperate which are more "valuable" patents than others. As said before, its not just about radio (power control techniques, rake receivers etc have been around for a while too). Like it or not, radio is only one part of WCDMA standard - and as ETSI standardisation took place in the late 90s Nokia and Ericsson were falling over themselves to get certain features/technologies accepted, which took advantage of their essential patent portfolio. In fact, right or wrong, they are still adding features now - that help puff up their positions.
I don't think there is an easy solution here. Its the same as debates about WCDMA royalties applying only to the commms value of the handset (not the battery, brand, camera module, plug in card, screen etc that also go into devices today) how do you seperate that out? That's also not easy to sort out, but its clear that the modem is an enabler, not the total value of the system anymore. |
